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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

MHD seed recovery and regeneration: Final report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5951738

The TRW Econoseed MHD Seed Regeneration Process is based on the reaction of calcium formate with potassium sulfate spent seed from an MHD electric power generation plant. The objectives of this Phase I project are to test the process at bench-scale, design a proof of concept (POC) test plant, plan and cost a Phase II project for a POC plant evaluation and prepare a conceptual design of a 300 MW (t) commercial plant. The results of the project are as follows: (1) each of the unit operations is demonstrated and the (2) data are incorporated into a POC plant design and project cost, as well as a 300 MW (t) commercial retrofit plant design and cost estimate. Specific results are as follows: (1) calcium formate can be produced at 100% yield in a total retention time of less than 5 minutes, (2) utilizing the calcium formate, spent seed can quantitatively be converted to potassium formate, potassium carbonate or mixtures of these with potassium sulfate as per the commercial design without measurable loss of potassium to insolubles at a total retention time under 20 minutes and ambient pressure, (3) the solid rejects form the process meet RCRA EP Toxicity requirements for safe disposal, and (4) filtration and evaporation data, as well as reaction data cited above, show that the Econoseed technology is ready for scale up to POC plant scale. Economics forecast studies show that the total cost per unit of potassium for seed regeneration by the Econoseed Process is in the range of $0.23 to $0.27/lb, a cost which is less than half the potassium cost of $0.63/lb for purchasing new potassium carbonate. 4 refs., 47 figs., 41 tabs.

Research Organization:
TRW Space and Technology Group, Redondo Beach, CA (USA). Applied Technology Div.
DOE Contract Number:
AC22-87PC79672
OSTI ID:
5951738
Report Number(s):
DOE/PC/79672-T1; ON: DE89002711
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English